The Gardens Day Care and Nursery School

The Gardens Day Care and Nursery School 62 Standen Road, LONDON, SW18 5TG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 30/04/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: Not Applicable How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Staff are extremely skilful in motivating children's learning through play. They provide challenge and scope, using excellent language to encourage the children to think.  Staff allow children to wallow in experiences and offer depth to be able to explore themes fully. Therefore children are able to learn at their own pace and immerse themselves in experiences.  The rooftop garden provides challenge and a variety of experiences that children can explore at their leisure, giving them the chance to be independent in their learning.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled relevant documents, including children's records and some policies.  The inspector gathered the views of parents and carers during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector undertook a joint observation of an adult-led activity with the manager.  The inspector held discussions with the manager, staff and children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's activities indoors and outside, and the staff interaction with them.

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Information about the setting

The Gardens Day Care and Nursery School registered in 1992 and re-registered in 2012 as a limited company. It is part of a group of four nurseries. It operates from the ground and first floor of a converted club-house building. Children have access to age related rooms and secure outdoor spaces. The nursery is situated in Southfields , within the London Borough of Wandsworth. The nursery offers places for children from 9 months to under eight years. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 7pm. It currently offers out of school service also an early birds club or pre booked basis from 7:30 The nursery is funded to provide free early education to children aged three and four years. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 136 children aged 9 months to eight years on roll. The nursery employs 27 members of staff who work directly with the children. Of these, 16 hold appropriate early years qualifications, five of whom hold Qualified Teacher Status.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 build on systems for gathering new babies starting points to be able to fully plan for their interests and fully engage with parents.

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who attend

Staff understand the children extremely well and know precisely what is needed to challenge, extend and support their needs. This is due to the highly effective key person system and the robust procedures for tracking children's progress. When formulating the planning of activities, staff ensure that children's interests and next stages of development are given priority, and they are carefully evaluated to ensure progress is consistent. Observations are linked to the areas of learning; therefore, children's individual learning priorities and starting points are clearly identified, from which planning stems directly.

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who attend

Staff provide an exciting environment where children are free to independently access the roof top garden to explore. The newly extended baby floor has well planned areas that allow babies maximum space to move, roll, stretch and explore in safety indoors and outdoors. Children throughout the nursery show they are extremely happy and settled. They have formed very close bonds with staff and new children settle very quickly due to robust settling-in procedures. They develop their independent learning skills as they move freely both inside and outside and follow their own interests during explorative play. Staff ensure that they are deployed very well to facilitate children's learning. They take part in pretend play and allow children to wrap them in bandages when playing Hospitals.

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who attend

Staff in the baby room break out into song and children laugh, rock and bounce along to the songs. Older children experience a wide range of music including opera and are aware of the concepts of notes and rhythms. They are asked to close their eyes and feel the music, and link it to characters in stories. Children's imagination is developing well as they spontaneously act out stories in the garden area. Staff readily acknowledge and praise children's achievements, so boosting children's confidence in gaining new skills. Staff constantly talk to each other, mentioning what they observe to the child's particular 'key person', to reaffirm children's achievements. Children learning English as an additional language experience their home languages through the aid of dual language books, signs and symbols, showing that staff value their family backgrounds. Staff speak a variety of European languages. They support children in their own languages as well as exposing

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who attend

them to different languages such as Mandarin and French through their daily planned activities. Children's reading skills are developing well. They are exposed to phonic sounds and understand that print has meaning. They recognise words and use mathematical names for 'solid' 3D shapes and 'flat' 2D shapes, and mathematical terms to describe shapes.

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who attend

Staff make it a priority in providing children with support to develop their learning further by making full and effective use of the outside area. Staff provide water and sand play on a large scale so that children can climb in and really wallow in experiences. Children are encouraged to plant and grow things, and transparent planters allow the children to closely observe roots and animals underground. They undertake trips to the local community to broaden their experiences, and also have regular visitors to the nursery such as the local fire brigade.

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who attend

Pre-school children are very articulate, they have excellent concentration levels and are very interested in things, questioning and problem solving with skill and increasing aptitude. Staff are extremely skilful in motivating and nurturing children's play. They provide a variety of sturdy resources to challenge and stretch the children's thinking and use excellent language to encourage the children to think about what they are doing. When exploring themes such as dinosaurs, staff extend and challenge children's increasing knowledge, for example by talking about herbivores and carnivores, and how the world has developed by looking at prehistoric charts. Staff instinctively anticipate where all children are going to need additional help and adapt all activities to support each child's individual learning. This exceptional support encourages the children to try for themselves, make mistakes and learn by exploring and experimenting. All children progress at least

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who attend

well, gaining valuable skills for their eventual move to school.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children are very secure in their friendships with each other, play well alongside each other and are particularly close with the staff. This is shown when, during play, babies go back to their key person for reassurance and to share an experience with them. They benefit enormously from having a key person who oversees their learning and development, knows them very well and shares vital information about progress with parents on a regular basis. This sequence of events makes sure that parents know how well the children are progressing and how they may support them at home to further their development.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children chose what they want to do and with whom. They are very familiar and extremely comfortable in their surroundings, knowing just where they can find toys and equipment. Even the youngest of children can crawl over to the shelves and help themselves to toys, showing great independence as learners. Children's behaviour is extremely good. They know the daily routines, and have picture time tables reminding them of what will take place. This greatly promotes their self-confidence and gives them a sense of ownership in the group. Settling-in babies happily potter about within the room exploring for themselves. They readily take part in messy activities and look for reassurance from staff, who are skilled in modelling play, to encourage children to take part. Therefore they engage in playful interactions that encourage young babies to respond to adults, to help develop their play and allow children to be immersed in the

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The nursery gives excellent regard to health and safety and to encouraging children's understanding of healthy lifestyles. Children understand why they must wear cream and hats in the sun, for example. Staff encourage children to eat well as they sit and chat with them at meal times which form an excellent social occasion. Staff provide accurate information to parents regarding their children's two-year-old progress checks. They work securely alongside parents and relevant professionals to ensure that all children will be able to make the move to school for their future learning seamlessly.

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provision

The provider has an excellent understanding of the legal responsibilities in promoting the learning and development and welfare requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. There are high quality systems in place to help safeguard children, protect their welfare and appoint suitable staff. Staff have attended safeguarding training and have a thorough knowledge of how to liaise with other agencies as required. Staff show consistent high regard to promoting children's safety while at the pre-school. They conduct thorough risk assessments and ensure appropriate safety equipment is in place. They teach children to be aware of how to keep themselves safe.

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provision

Since the re-registration of the nursery, changes have been made to extend the baby floor to accommodate 33 children. The newly appointed manager, who has been part of the company for 20 years, has been able to oversee this transformation. She has identified though meticulous self-evaluation, that further improvements will help support babies in their development and settling-in. Training and coaching for staff is a priority for the nursery and results in highly knowledgeable and dedicated staff who are able to deliver exceptionally high quality care and education to all children. Self-evaluation regarding the quality of the service takes place to pin point priorities for further development. Management review questions in parent questionnaires, to gather more response. The manager works very closely to develop new ideas making it as collaborative a process as possible between staff, children and parents.

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provision

Staff make time to have conversations with parents both at the start and at the end of sessions. They provide comprehensive newsletters and display information for parents about the activities and changes within the nursery. Parents are invited to look through children's records of progress and discuss findings with the children's key person. Staff offer immediate attention to parent's views, and issues are dealt with promptly. Parents spoken to during the inspection stated that their children are extremely happy, and have made considerable progress since attending the nursery. They feel they are fully included in their children's learning and development, and staff are 'very approachable'. All children receive excellent attention and are well placed for their future learning.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY455318 Local authority Wandsworth Inspection number 890303 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 85 Number of children on roll 136 Name of provider The Gardens Childcare Limited Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 02088719487

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Setting details

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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